Construction toy



May 24, 1960 P. PARIS] 2,937,471

CONSTRUCTION TOY Filed Oct. 17, 1958 ii v WMZ

ATTORNEYS 2 Sheets-Sheet-l May 24, 1960 I P. PARISI 2,937,471

cons'rauc'rxou TOY Filed Oct. 17, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYSCONSTRUCTION TOY Pasquale Parisi, 181 Dover St., New Haven, Conn.

Filed Oct. 17, 1958, Ser. No. 767,872 4 Claims. or. 46-29) vention toprovide a building structure having vertical and horizontal beams uponwhich may be supported substantially plane flat wall or siding elementsto close in the resulting building, these Wall elements being sup- SmtesPatentf ported from certain of the beams and adapted to have of theinvention) and at the ends of these elements are secured connectorblocks having recesses therein of generally T-shaped form in crosssection opening through the end faces of the blocks whereby T-shapedconnector elements may be employed to connect one beam to an adjoiningbeam.

The faces of the connector blocks are provided, in additional to theT-shaped recesses, with rectangular recesses at substantially theircentral portions to permit the connection of one element with anotherextending at right angles thereto by the T-shaped members as will behereinafter described. The flanges of the I-beam elements are providedwith openings or slots adapted to receive tongues or similar projectingmembers provided upon the flat sheet-like wall elements to support thelatter.

As will be hereinafter explained, the various parts of the structure maybe secured together in a number of different ways to form a buildingstructure, for example, which will be provided with closed end walls,the beam elements comprising the skeleton of the structure beingfrictionally secured together without the use of tools.

One object of the present invention is to provide a novel toy buildingconstruction, the parts of which may be readily and easily assembled.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a toy buildingconstruction comprising a plurality of construction elements which maybe frictionally secured together in a number of different arrangementswithout the use of tools and which parts may be readily detached whendesired. I

A still further object of the invention is to provide a toy buildingconstruction comprising a plurality of beam-like supported elements fromwhich a main frame of a building or like structure may be erected and bywhich wall plates may be supported to form a closed building.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features andcombinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a portion of a building structureembodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an explodedperspective view of a number of beam-like stringers or elements adaptedfor frictional connection to form a relatively rigid structure} and Fig.4 comprises a side elevational view and plan view of one of the T-shapedconnector elements. To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my inventionI have shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings a building structure comprising aplurality of vertically disposed studs or beams 10 and a plurality ofhorizontal stringers 11, these members being frictionally securedtogether as will be hereinafter explained. The members 10 and 11 are ofI-beam construction as shown in the sectional view of Fig. 2 having webportions 12 and upper and lower flanges 13 and 14. Theupper flanges 13are provided with openings 15 at spaced intervals for a purpose to behereinafter described.

As shown in Fig. 3 of the'drawings, connector blocks 16 and 17 aresecured to the ends of the beam members or stringers 10 and 11, it beingunderstood that one of these connector blocks will be secured'to eachend of the members 10 and 11. The blocks 16 and 17 are-of rectangularshape and ma be of equal length and width if desired if the flanges onthe-I beams are ofthe same dimension as the height thereof, itbeingdesired that the connector blocks beof the same dimensions in length andwidth as the I beams as illustrated. The parts thus described may bemade of any suitable material such as plastic, for example, and theconnector blocks will be rigidly secured to the beams, or formedintegrally therewith.

The connector blocks 16 and 17 are of identical form but are givendifferent numerals to facilitate the explanation of the manner in whichthey'may be secured together. Each of the connector blocks is providedwith a number of recesses opening through the end face thereof. Certainof these recesses indicated at 18 are of T- shaped form in cross sectionand not only open through the end faces of the blocks 16 and 17, butalso open through the side faces thereof, as shown at 19. In addition, acentral rectangular opening 20 is provided at substantially the centralportion of the end face of each of the blocks 16 and 17.

Connector elements are provided, as shown in Fig. 4, which are also ofsubstantially T-shaped form in cross section. Each of these connectorelements has a head 22 and a stem 23 projecting therefrom, the headbeing of substantially rectangular form as shown, and the stem' If it isdesired to connect two of the beams 10 to form V a vertical column, onebeing superposed upon another, this may be effected, as showndiagrammatically in Fig. 3. One of the T-shaped connector elements shownin Fig. 4 may be employed at each side of the block 16, the head 22 ofthe connector element being inserted in the inner portion 24 of one ofthe T-shaped openings with the stem 23 projecting outwardly through theopening 19 at one side of the member 16. It will be understood that thedepth of the recess is substantially one half of the longer dimension ofthe head 22 so that one half of the head will project upwardly to enterthe registering recess in the connecting block 16 of the superposed beam10. Likewise, substantially one half of the longer dimension of the stem23'will likewise project into the side face recess 19 of the upperblock. As many of these T-shaped connecting blocks may be employed asdesired to connect two of the beams in vertical alignment in thismanner. Usually, however, they will only beemployed at the side faceswhereit is desired to connect horizontal beams.

When the T elements have been inserted into the lower connector block16, the upper beam may be placed downwardly, upon it with the end facesof the connector blocks abutting and, as will be obvious, the T-shapedconnector elements will be disposed halfin the lower connector block andhalf in the upper connector block. As these T-shaped elements fit snuglyin the recesses 18, they will frictionally hold the two beams togetherforming a vertical column.

Preferably the thickness dimension of the blocks, that is to say, thevertical dimension of the block 16 shown in Fig. 3, will besubstantially half of the length of the blocks so that when it isdesired to connect a horizontal beam 11 to a vertical column consistingof one or more beams 10, there will be no projecting edges and, if ahorizontal beam is connected at each side of a vertical column, as shownin Fig. 1, for example, the upper and lower edges of the connectorblocks will be in alignment.

If it is desired to connect a horizontal beam 11 to a vertical beam 10,one of the T-shaped connector elements 22 is, placed in one of therecesses 18 of a connector block 16 as illustrated in dotted lines inFig. 3 and as, previously described. The stem 23 of the connector blockwill project outwardly through the recess 19 and from the end face oftheconnector block 16. This stem 23 may then be frictionally inserted intothe recess in the end face of the connector block 17. As the frictionalfit will be a snug one, the horizontal beam 11 will be thus secured toone of the vertical beams 10. It will, of course, be understood that, ifone of the T-shaped connector elements has been employed to connect twovertical beams into a column, this same element will be employed toconnect a horizontal beam to a column thus formed. It will also beobvious from Fig. 2 that a horizontal beam may be connected at each ofthe four sides of a vertical column so that horizontal beams may extendfrom the column in any or all of the four directions.

To form the walls of the building sheet-like members 25 are provided asshown in Figs. 1 and 2. These members may alsobe formed ofv any desiredsheet material such as plastic, and adjacent their upper ends may beprovided with spaced rearwardly projecting hooks or lugs 2fi,the spacingof these members corresponding to that of the openings 15 in the flangeportions of the I beams so that the hooks may be engaged in theseopenings and the members 25 thereby suspended. Preferably the length ofthese members 25 will be sufficient to extend between adjacent verticalcolumns when the latter are connected by the horizontal beams 11 asshown in Fig. 1. With this arrangement the joints betweenthe wallmembers will lie at the center of the columns and thus a closed wallwill result.

Similar hooks or lug members 27 may be provided at the lower edges ofeach of the members 25, which members will be offset rearwardly in orderto engage behind the upper edge of the next lowermost element as shownmore particularly in Fig. 2 and thus prevent outward swinging of thelower edges of these members. The

lug members 26 are displaced a slight distance below the upper edges ofthe members 25 so as to provide for this engagement of the members 27with the edge of the members 25 above the lugs 26.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the detailsshown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit ofthe invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A toy building structure comprising a pair of beam elements and meansfor connecting the ends of said elements together, said connecting meanscomprising a connector block at the end of each beam having asubstantially, plane end face, each of said blocks being provided withT-shaped recesses at the edges thereof opening through its end face andalso through the side faces adjacent said edges, and further providedwith a recess rectangular in cross section adjacent the central portionof said end face, and a T-shaped connector element frictionally mountedin a T-shaped recess of the block at the end of one beam and therectangular recess in the block at the endof the other beam.

2. A toy building structure comprising a pair of beam elements and meansfor connecting the ends of said elements together, said connecting meanscomprising a connectorblock atthe end of each beam element having asubstantiallyplane end face provided with T-shaped recesses thereinwhich open'through said face and also through the side'faces of saidmember, said beam elements being disposed with said plane faces inabutting relation, a generally T-shaped'connector having its headportion received frictionally in the recesses of said connector blocksat the end faces thereof and having its stem portion projecting throughthe side surfaces of said connector blocks.

' 3. A toy building structure comprising a pair of beam elements andmeans for connecting. the ends of said elements together, saidconnecting means comprising a connector block at the end of each beamelement having a substantially plane end face provided with T-shapedrecesses therein which open through said face and also through the sidefaces of said member, said beam elements being disposed with said planefaces in abutting relation, a generally T.-shaped connector having itshead portion received frictiorially in the recesses of said connectorblocks at the end faces thereof and having its stem portion projectingthrough the side surfaces of said connector blocks, and a third beamelement having a similar connector block'at itsnd,' the face of whichabuts the side surfaces of the blocks on said first-mentioned beamelements and having an opening in its end face in which the projectingstem of said T-shaped connector element is frictionally received.

4. A my building structure as in claim 2 wherein a third beam extendssubstantially transversely to said pair of beam elements from a positionadjacent the abutting faces thereof, and wherein the'stem of saidT-shaped connector is secured to the end face of saidthird beam.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,898,297 Fox Feb. 21, 1933 2,156,155 Howard Apr. 25, 1939 2,407,927Hayden. Sept. 17, 1946 2,714,782 Dinn Aug. 9. 1955

